A New Week Begins

Today, I have a noon appointment to get my clotting factor measured.  I hope Dr. R. gets me set up at the Coumadin Clinic at Banner Baywood soon.  I'm almost out of veins to be tapped.


Tomorrow I'll see Dr. Fastenberg and we'll decide if I am well enough to return to my chemos.  Plus I want to see the final CT result for myself.  I'm so happy about the shrinkage of my adrenal gland tumor, and thankful for some good news for a change. :)


Nancy and I are going to make three-bean turkey chili for dinner tonight.  We're using black beans, kidneys and great northern beans.  Jane had made a bunch of sauteed veggies yesterday:  Asparagus, red onion, orange, yellow and red bell peppers and jalapenos.  We'll finish them off tonight.  Actually, I think they'd be great as a topper for the chili.


The turkey chili is a slow-cooker thing so we'll get that put together when we get home from the blood-letting.  It will make the house smell so good!


I'm feeling strong enough to take my walker to the lab today, rather than my scooter.  Even with the Handicapped parking space, their actual location withing the building they occupy is about as far in as you can get. :D  But I'm looking forward to walking on my own two feet.  Keep those blood clots at bay!!


Speaking of walking, I'm off to take a gander at my back garden.  It's nice and cool this morning, so I must take advantage of the temperature.


Love and hugs to all!

Blech....

The good news is that I am off the heparin drip and just on coumadin.  That means, if all goes well, I will go HOME TOMORROW!

This morning, though, I had mutated into Zombie Tequila.  Vicodin and I just don't mix, apparently.  And the puking began.  And more drugs were given (Phenergan.)  And the Zombie Tequila emerged.

But, it's three PM, now, and Human Tequila is almost back.  Thankfully, the nurses tell me, I didn't manage to eat any brains.  I didn't eat anything.  Which was a bummer because I had had a nice breakfast ordered.  Alas.

Visitors are here so I shall close this post.  Love to all!

And I Give In

I asked for pain meds.  My left leg, in which I have Deep Vein Thrombosis, hurts SO much, I can barely move, and it almost reduced me to tears. So Dr. Ramaswamy ordered some Vicodin, but he says I have to get some anti-nausea meds on board first.  I've had one tablet so far, but I am going to bite the bullet and ask for another.

Oh, and it turned out that the creepy alarm that went off this morning was actually a fire drill.  Still not terribly reassuring that we patients get shut up in our rooms while the staff evacuates.  But, then again, I couldn't walk, so...  :)

Anyway, Dr. R says that if we can get the pain under control, MAYBE I can go home tomorrow.  Otherwise,we'll shoot for Thursday.  Good gods, that would make a week in the Big House!  Well, whatever....I just want to be safe and well.

Nurses Are Awesome

About 100 years ago, my aunt Lorraine would take we girls to Hawaii every summer.  One year,we were on the Big Island, I think on the Kona side, and we found a restaurant we loved.  Now, granted, there was Auntie with three comely young ladies, and that habitually got us fine service, but at this particular establishment, the service was impeccable.
While I may have  forgotten the name of the place, I will never forget the entire experience of dining there.  I've been feeling the same appreciation for the nursing staff of the 4th floor here at Banner Baywood.

I'm a good patient when it comes to compliance, but I acknowledge that when it comes to complaining about things like pain, or any kind of discomfort, I suck.  I was not reared to complain...ever, and so when I'm asked if I'm in pain, I will invariably tell you 'no.'  And this can kill you.  Pain usually happens to warn you of something, but I have been attributing pain of late to being an expected consequence of chemotherapy, and just dealing with it.

Now, with the blood clots it's become very apparent that I *must* learn to tell my doctors about pain and anything else I can perceive as being beyond the norm.

So it seems that I will be here until Tuesday.  There was some discussion among my docs of implanting a filter to keep any more Pulmonary Embolisms from occurring, but instead, I may end up on blood thinners long-term.

Transfusions

I got a unit of blood, starting at 1AM. This was my first ever transfusion, and made me very grateful to EVERYONE that donates blood.  I'll be getting another unit soon.  Rebecca, my RN, has done my blood draw,and Allison just took my vital signs.

Lack of sleep is not helping me get well, but it IS making me thankful for every bit of sleep I can get.

I had a blood pressure of 95/23 last night, but this morning, it was 112/60.  Much better!

It's 4:21AM, so I am going to try for a little more sleep....or I'll call my sister Wendy, who I *know* will be up.

In Hospital

This morning I headed to Ironwood Cancer & Research Center for my CT scan.  When I got home my oncologist called to tell me to get to my hospital's ER...the scan found a blood clot in my lungs.

But, he also told me that there was tumor shrinkage!  It looks like we are getting great results from this chemo.

Anyway, I am now in Banner Baywood and will be here until Tuesday, probably.  I'm on a heparin drip, hopefully disintegrating the clot.

Take care, all.  I love you.  :)